A Picture of Britain [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Dimbleby, of course, has great gravitas as a television presenter, and he makes a first class job of dragging the landscape and its changing weather patterns into your living room and consciousness. It was a thoroughly engaging television series - as a Scot, as a Celt, I have to say that Dimbleby can be a bit too English at times, but, overall, he does a compelling job of relating the natural canvas to the artistic one.

So how does the television series translate to book form? Well, not at all badly. The narrative is thoroughly accessible, well paced, and highly informative. The illustrations and print quality are first rate. All in all, it is a book which you may well treasure and which will, hopefully, provide inspiration to get you out to look at your surrounding landscape, to pick up pastel or brush, pen and paper, camera or clay, and find that emotional connection with place and environment which enriches us all.

However, while I can be disparaging of 'coffee table' books which simply offer loads of glossy photographs with little substance, "A Picture of Britain" loses something in its lack of pictures! Oh, it is beautifully illustrated, beautifully packaged, but much of the fascination of the television series lay in the ability of the camera to move you around, to get in close or pull back, to capture the essence of changing light and atmosphere. A book simply can't do that.

As an accompaniment to the series, this is a very fine book. As a stand alone, it is more of an hors d'oeuvres than a main course. But, whether you buy the one or both, the message really is, get out there, open your eyes, enjoy the extraordinary range of landscapes in the British Isles, appreciate the fickle British weather - sun, storm, night, day, land or sea - and be aware of the extraordinary quality of light which we experience on these islands, light of such subtlety and quality no scene is ever the same minute by minute, never mind day by day.

Dimbleby, of course, has great gravitas as a television presenter, and he makes a first class job of dragging the landscape and its changing weather patterns into your living room and consciousness. It was a thoroughly engaging television series - as a Scot, as a Celt, I have to say that Dimbleby can be a bit too English at times, but, overall, he does a compelling job of relating the natural canvas to the artistic one.

So how does the television series translate to book form? Well, not at all badly. The narrative is thoroughly accessible, well paced, and highly informative. The illustrations and print quality are first rate. All in all, it is a book which you may well treasure and which will, hopefully, provide inspiration to get you out to look at your surrounding landscape, to pick up pastel or brush, pen and paper, camera or clay, and find that emotional connection with place and environment which enriches us all.

However, while I can be disparaging of 'coffee table' books which simply offer loads of glossy photographs with little substance, "A Picture of Britain" loses something in its lack of pictures! Oh, it is beautifully illustrated, beautifully packaged, but much of the fascination of the television series lay in the ability of the camera to move you around, to get in close or pull back, to capture the essence of changing light and atmosphere. A book simply can't do that.

As an accompaniment to the series, this is a very fine book. As a stand alone, it is more of an hors d'oeuvres than a main course. But, whether you buy the one or both, the message really is, get out there, open your eyes, enjoy the extraordinary range of landscapes in the British Isles, appreciate the fickle British weather - sun, storm, night, day, land or sea - and be aware of the extraordinary quality of light which we experience on these islands, light of such subtlety and quality no scene is ever the same minute by minute, never mind day by day.

As soon as I placed the book in my hand I knew that I was going to buy it. The writing is informative and will allow everyone to enjoy not only the art through the pictures and words but the associated photographs of the landscape.

I haven't seen it advertised yet but I'm sure that there will be a CD of the music coming soon to complete the package.

The series like the book gives you those little extras all the time and weaves the arts of painting, music, literature together as well as the romance, fear and life of the artists. It takes you on a journey not only visually but in a sense physically and emotionally.

You want to go to the places and I bet when you do you will take this book and trace the footsteps of the artist but watch out.

Don't do as Gough did on fall off striding edge going up or down Helvellyn. I remember the time that I was up their on the top and looked back to where my footsteps had been right across a snow edge with Gough's fatal drop to the Red Tarn below. I was lucky he was not so take care and don't read the book while you are walking as you may get drawn in too far.